What term refers to the public worship of the Church?

• A. Sacrament
• B. Liturgy
• C. Grace
• D. Ecclesia

Answer: (B)

Liturgy is the public worship of the Church. The term comes from the Greek leitourgia, meaning “the work of the people,” and it refers to the official, communal worship in which the faith community participates. In many traditions, the liturgy centers on celebrating the Eucharist and includes the Liturgy of the Word, prayers, readings, responses, hymns, and the seasonal rites of the Church. This public act is distinct from private devotional practices and from the gifts of grace themselves.

Sacrament is a sacred sign of grace instituted by Christ and realized within the liturgy, but it is not the act of public worship itself. Grace refers to the divine help God gives, received through the sacraments and faith, not to the worship service. Ecclesia denotes the Church as the people or assembly, the community, rather than the act of worship. Therefore, the term that best matches “the public worship of the Church” is liturgy.